Rock the Spaz bar

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When they started, the Spazzys couldn't play instruments. Now their crowds are going bananas, writes Andrew Murfett.

The Spazzys’ reputation as a no-holdsbarred
party band is authentic. Kat
(guitar and vocals, centre), Lucy
(bass, left) and Alice (drums, right), all 22,
are regulars at Melbourne's rock clubs. And
like their heroes, the Ramones, they've all
adopted their band name as a surname.

Their story began when Kat and Lucy were
toddlers. "My older brothers were into Kiss,"
Lucy explains.

"I was in prep, and one day I went
into their room and played Kiss. To me, it didn't
sound pop like it does now, it sounded evil, like
the devil. I stole the tape and just kept it and
never talked about it again."

Kat agrees: "You look up to your older
brothers, and it was just naughty to be in there."

"My brother was in a band called the
Sacred Papadams," says Alice. "When I was
younger he would play me Nirvana and I felt
like it hurt my ears, but I was interested why people liked it, so I kept listening.

"I would
always try to do everything to hang around
the band."

The trio were together at Melbourne Girls
College in years nine and 10. Kat and Lucy
were eventually "asked to leave" the school, but
remained in contact until the end of year 12,
when they bonded at Alice's 18th birthday party.

"We went to gigs together every night after
Ally's 18th," Lucy says. "We were hanging
around bands and people who ran venues so
much that we thought, 'This is all we ever do,
let's just make our own!'

"So Alice says, 'Let's
make a band called the Spazzys.' 'Why the
Spazzys?' 'Why not?'"

"There was no formula," adds Kat. "We
couldn't play, so we just did it. I was told I was
the one who would be playing guitar — I
didn't know if it was serious and I didn't want
to spend any money, so I borrowed a guitar,
and after six months I realised that maybe we
could do this."

The Spazzys' first show was supporting punk
outfit Mach Pelican. Although by their own
admission it was indifferent at best, they knew
they had the songs to take it to the next level.

"It's so easy to cut a band down and say,
'You're shit,'" says Alice. "Every band
deserves a third or fourth chance, and
they're willing to give it in Melbourne."

More gigs and rehearsing (mostly in
Alice's basement) followed, and they began
selling burnt copies of their own demos with
home-made covers. After signing with small
indie label Fur, the band headed to the studio
and recorded their exhilarating debut album,
Aloha! Go Bananas, in 10 days last year.

Two
singles, Paco Doesn't Love Me and Hey Hey
Baby have both charted and received
encouraging amounts of airplay, with the
album out this week.

"Everyone around us has always helped,"
says Kat. "They've shown us the ropes and,
when needed, taken things into their own
hands for us. But we've always had control and
we've never been pressured. When we started
the band, I didn't have the confidence to write a
song by myself. Now that we know what we're
doing, we're actually writing a lot more."

"We're getting more choosey now," Lucy
adds. "We know that people are actually
gonna hear these songs now. That wasn't
there before."